Former Turkish Diplomat Kent Dies
Risked his life to save Jews during WW2
The Associated Press, ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - Necdet Kent, a Turkish diplomat who risked his life to save Jews during World War II, died Friday. He was 91. The Foreign Ministry said Kent died in Istanbul.

Kent, who was posted as Consul General to Marseilles, France between 1941 and 1944, gave Turkish citizenship to dozens of Turkish Jews living in France who did not have proper identity papers to save them from deportation to the Nazi gas chambers.

On one occasion, Kent boarded a train bound for Auschwitz after Nazi guards refused to let some 70 Jews with Turkish citizenship disembark. After more than an hour, the guards allowed Kent and the Jews to leave.

"I cannot forget the embraces, the expressions of gratitude in the eyes of the people we rescued," The Jerusalem Post quoted Kent as saying Sept. 21, 2000.

In 2001, Kent and two other diplomats, Namik Kemal Yolga and Selahattin Ulkumen, were honored with Turkey's Supreme Service Medal as well as a special medal from Israel for rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.

"I admire and respect and thank you no end for what you did to save our Jewish brothers at the darkest moment in history," Uri Bar-Ner, then Israel's ambassador to Turkey, said at the ceremony.

Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, speaking in Washington on Turkish-U.S. relations in March, praised the diplomat, saying his story "has a place in humanitarian acts of courage beside the feats of a man like Raoul Wallenberg."

Wolfowitz referred to the Swedish diplomat credited with saving some 20,000 Jews before being arrested in 1945 by Soviet troops.

After World War II, Kent served at Turkey's consulate in New York and was ambassador to Thailand, New Delhi, Sweden and Poland. There was no immediate information on survivors.

Dozens gather for funeral of Kent who on September 23
Esra Aygin- Dozens of mourners, including leaders of the Turkish Jewish community, gathered in an Istanbul mosque Monday, Sept 23 for the funeral of Necdet Kent. Mourners gathered at Istanbul's Bebek mosque for Kent's funeral.

"The souls of the people you pulled out from the monster's mouth are waiting here to take you to God," said Harry Ojalvo, a leader of Istanbul's Jewish community.

Among the mourners were officials from the Israeli consulate, Istanbul's Deputy Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleve and leaders of the Turkish Jewish community.

On one occasion in 1943, Kent boarded a train bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp after Nazi guards refused to let some 70 Jews with Turkish citizenship disembark. After more than an hour on the train, the guards let Kent and the Jews leave.

In 2001, Kent was honored with Turkey's Supreme Service Medal and a special medal from Israel for rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.

"I admire and respect and thank you no end for what you did to save our Jewish brothers at the darkest moment in history," Israel's then ambassador to Turkey, Uri Bar-Ner, said at the ceremony.

After the war, Kent served at Turkey's consulate in New York and was ambassador to Thailand, India, Sweden and Poland.

Kent was buried at the Zincirlikuyu Cemetery in Istanbul.